In 1920, King Alexander of Greece died from a monkey bite.

His sudden, untimely death was one of the first in a series of disasters that ultimately led to the Greek Catastrophe in Asia Minor of 1922.

Who cares? Well, in this piece I wanted to make the point that history is full of strange, absurd events. There is always the element of chaos underneath everything. In Greece, there are innumerable nationalist documentaries exploring the actions of men like Eleftherios Venizelos (women are notably absent, of course) but there is no acknowledgement of chance as a determining factor in history. There are even conspiracy theories about Alexander's death that point to his doctors; people find it truly unthinkable that a king - especially a Bavarian/Danish import - could die from the infected bite of a monkey.

I wasn't trying to say anything nasty about Greece in this film. Really, if anything, I believe modern Greek history should not be considered the exclusive domain of Theo Angelopoulos. History is not necessarily solemn and stiff; it's not even a narrative. Actually, it's peculiar, interesting and sometimes funny. And if truth be told, all nations are haunted by the ghosts of chaos and brutality.

Winston Churchill said, 'It is perhaps no exaggerration to remark that a quarter of a million people died from this monkey bite.'


This movie is part of the collection: Community Video

Production Company: extremely not for profit
Audio/Visual: sound, color
Language: Greek/English
Keywords: modern Greek history, experimental animation
Contact Information: thanos@post.com

Creative Commons license: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs

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Reviewer: N Xs - - May 5, 2009
Subject: Monkeees
This is an excellent short film, though I think it's creator defers too much in his description to avoid appearing "anti-Greek"- I think the work speaks for itself. This film brings up many great and relevant themes and in my opinion is spot on with the chaos that resulted in minds of the Greek people at the time. Yes, there are absurdities in history though too often Greece has had more than it's share of them and the Churchill's "monkey bite" is the best one. There *is* blame to be laid on the Monarchy for it's own downfall and the keeping of such exotic pets during such a pressing period of Greek history is nothing if not excessive. The actual details of the King's death were more complicated than shown here (ie. there were two monkeys involved) though this work as an artistic piece is rather brilliant, particularly in the scenes that present the aftermath. Bravo to it's maker, I hope we see more of these in the future.

Reviewer: thanos - - April 4, 2006
Subject: lasting impressions
Well, modern Greek history is a bit like a bad acid trip sometimes. Kind of like contemporary American history...Anyway this piece isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I'm glad you will now associate the death of King Alexander of Greece with a monkey skull. You never know, could be useful someday.

Reviewer: minolta - - March 31, 2006
Subject: carny music, strobe lights, and monkey skulls...need I say more?
Wow, this movie is like one really bad acid trip! ItÂs really creepy! However, it has left a lasting impression on my mind and I will now associate the death of King Alexander of Greece with carny music, strobe lights, and monkey skulls :)

Credits

created by Thanos Fatouros